No Blues received individual honours, but Chelsea were named as Club of the Year during the prestigious event.
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Thomas Tuchel has had his say on the recent Ballon d’Or ceremony ahead of Chelsea’s next match against Watford. Despite having some of their players being nominated for the awards, no Blues received individual honours, but Chelsea were named as Club of the Year during the prestigious event. Tuchel was happy with the award they won, as he believed that in a team sport like football, it is the collective effort that matters more than individual ones. “It’s a nice award because it’s a team effort,” he explained, as per their club’s website. “All our players and all the Women’s players deserve to be on that list for their contribution to the success, but if individual players shine this is always due to a team effort and that’s why it is a nice award.
“We have a strong Academy, we have a strong women’s team and we want to be a strong part of this club. So full credit to the owner and everybody in charge and we are trying our best to continue and maybe win this award again. I have huge doubts about individual awards in this game, because the game is very complex, it’s related to a lot of luck. It’s a team effort, not one single player can win a match of football, it’s simply not possible. That’s why I’m happy when I have the chance to work in a club where we have so many nominees, where we have such a strong Academy, strong women’s team.
“That shows the ambition of the club, it shows the target, and this is what drives us, makes us happy and what motivates us. We don’t do what we do to have in the end an individual award, but when you have a lot of nominees and you get a prize like we did yesterday, it’s proof of what the club is all about and how the club is built.”
Tuchel then shifted his attention to the upcoming Premier League match against Warford in the midweek. He discussed the situation on the left side of the back four, where Ben Chilwell’s likely absence through injury until the new year leaves Marcos Alonso facing a big test of his fitness. With a lot of games coming thick and fast during December, the Spanish full-back will need to be at his best to help the team maintain their dominance in the league.
“First of all we have Marcos, who started the season for us when Chilly was in a bit of trouble and a bit of a more difficult moment for him,” said Tuchel. “So we trust him, he knows how to win Premier League games, Marcos is very experienced. I think it’s even a situation, when nobody’s injured, where you have two specialists for one position, both of them play for their international teams, where you can end up sometimes in very difficult decisions. It can be very hard for one of them because, in my opinion, they compete for one single position, the left wing-back position.
“If one has a longer injury like Ben now, it can suddenly seem like we don’t have enough. If you look at the schedule and think does Marcos have now to play eight matches, or every three days, is that possible? Maybe not. So I think we still have Callum who can play on the left side as a wing-back and we have some other ideas that we can maybe try, maybe we will have to try, let’s see. But first of all Marcos is the one in charge, he’s the specialist, and he will prove how much he can bring to the team and what impact he can have for us.”
